Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity Announces 18 Winners in its 28th Edition

Al Qaseer: The Vision of the Ruler of Sharjah Affirms the Award's Effort in Seeking Every Creative Talent

Sharjah –

Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al Qaseer, Director of Cultural Affairs at the Sharjah Department of Culture and Secretary-General of the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity (First Edition), announced the names of the winners in the 28th edition of the award. This edition is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and organized by the Cultural Affairs Department.

The number of winners reached 18 male and female participants from various Arab countries, across the six literary fields of the award: Poetry, Novel, Short Story, Playwriting, Children's Literature, and Criticism.

Mohammed Al Qaseer said: "The Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity, with each new edition, reaffirms its creative core in seeking out every emerging talent in the world of Arabic literature. This is in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah, who laid the foundation for this award. It is pioneering in its creative approach, as it focuses on discovering young creative talents. This is an exceptional cultural vision that emphasizes the search for debut literary works by writers from all Arab countries, shaping the award’s identity and cultural distinctiveness as a celebration and a nurturing ground for creators across six dynamic literary fields."

Al Qaseer added: "Over its successive editions, the award has fostered a rich creative environment and contributed to the Arab library with hundreds of poetic, narrative, short story, critical, and dramatic works. It is worth noting that the award sees broad Arab participation in every edition. This year, over 470 literary works were submitted from Arab countries and some foreign countries with Arabic-speaking residents, reflecting the importance of the award among Arab writers. The award opens its doors each edition to seek new talents."

Al Qaseer also pointed out that this edition received 156 submissions from Egypt, 90 from Syria, 46 from Algeria, 43 from Morocco, 23 from Jordan, 27 from Iraq, 22 from Sudan, 19 from Yemen, 10 from Palestine, 7 from Oman and Tunisia, 6 from Saudi Arabia, 3 from Bahrain and Mauritania, 2 from Nigeria and Lebanon, and 1 each from the UAE, Libya, Mali, and Turkey.

The Secretary-General of the award also mentioned that the submissions were distributed across the following fields: Poetry (108 submissions), Short Story (116 submissions), Novel (90 submissions), Drama (64 submissions), Children's Literature (79 submissions—specifically plays aimed at children aged 8-11 years), and Literary Criticism (13 submissions). This year, the focus for the Literary Criticism category was on "Arabic Poetry: The Dialectic of Tradition and Modernity.”